As we await for the Hornets to be rechristened, I went back to the old days, as far back as 1974, for a headline that read: “NBA Team Nickname Narrowed to Eight.” It accompanied a story that read from the more than 6,500 entries in a contest to name the New Orleans’ NBA franchise, the most popular were: Dukes, Blues, Deltas, Jazz, Crescents, Cajuns, Knights and Pilots.
Within days there was another story that began with: “Tune your trumpet, Al Hirt. Polish your clarinet keys, Pete Fountain. Oil the pedals on your baby grand, Ronnie Kole. It was looked upon here as the dawn of the jazz age in the NBA.”
Suddenly, “New Orleans Jazz” had joined company with names such as the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers.
Because there was a singular ring to the newest NBA nickname, some fans wondered if the “Jazz” had joined the World Football League, which had teams named the Sun, the Fire, the Bell and the Storm.